| Martin Pike | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Martin Pike | ||
| Nickname | Pikey | ||
| Born | (1972-11-14)14 November 1972 (age 53) Glenelg, South Australia | ||
| Original team | Norwood (SANFL) | ||
| Draft | No. 9,1992 national draft No. 42,1996 national draft No. 33,2000 national draft | ||
| Height | 189 cm (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Weight | 92 kg (203 lb) | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1993–1994 | Melbourne | 24(25) | |
| 1995–1996 | Fitzroy | 36(15) | |
| 1997–2000 | North Melbourne | 81(19) | |
| 2001–2005 | Brisbane Lions | 106(67) | |
| Total | 247 (126) | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2005. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Martin Pike (born 14 November 1972) is a former professionalAustralian rules footballer, who played in fourAustralian Football League (AFL) premiership sides. A tough, versatile wingman, Pike has been described as a "natural player" of the game.[1] Highlights of his career included a premiership with theNorth Melbourne Football Club, three more withBrisbane, the final AFL best-and-fairest winner withFitzroy in1996, and selection in the1998South Australian State-Of-Origin side.
Pike was born inGlenelg, South Australia, and made his senior debut withSouth Australian National Football League (SANFL) sideNorwood in 1990. He was drafted byMelbourne Football Club with their first choice (ninth overall) in the1992 AFL draft. Pike made his AFL debut in1993, playing eight games atcentre half-back and a further 16 matches in1994, including three finals.
Despite his strong on-field performance, Melbourne traded Pike toFitzroy Football Club at the end of 1994 due to his off-field problems with alcohol.
After playing 14 games for Fitzroy in1995, Pike played all 22 games in1996, winning Fitzroy's best-and-fairest award, beating laterPort Adelaide captainMatthew Primus for the honour. However, in late 1996, via a deal with the administrator of theFitzroy Football Club at the time, theBrisbane Bears took over Fitzroy's AFL operations. Pike was not selected as one of the eight Fitzroy players to move north to Brisbane at the end of 1996, largely due to his poor off-field reputation. In July 1996 he was found guilty of drink driving for the third time and was fined $1000, lost his licence for five years and sentenced to six months jail, but avoided having to go to jail, being able to serve the sentence at home under an intensive correction order.[2]
Hoping in part to capitalise in part on the bad feeling many Victorian basedFitzroy supporters had about the failed merger with theNorth Melbourne Football Club, and about the way the deal withBears was executed, the1996 Premiers,North Melbourne, recruited a number of former Fitzroy players, including Pike, in the1996 AFL draft.
Pike had a solid year in1997: North finished third and South Australia included him in their 1998 State of Origin squad. His work off the halfback line and on the wings generated many opportunities for the team's forwards. Pike was a member of the North Melbourne Grand Final team that lost toAdelaide Football Club in1998 after winning the minor premiership that year before becoming a member of the Kangaroos' premiership winning team in1999, fulfilling a lifelong ambition.
However, due to poor form in2000, combined with discipline issues off the field (including a widely reported late arrival to a compulsory club function), North Melbourne delisted him at the end of 2000.[3]
The Brisbane Lions recruited Pike in the2000 AFL draft after impressing coachLeigh Matthews in an interview, although Pike's reputation was poor enough for Matthews to consult his leading players before committing to the wayward footballer. Pike quickly proved himself at his fourth club, playing 22 games in2001 as the club won itsfirst premiership. Now with family commitments, Pike was a reformed character, with increased professionalism and none of the poor off-field behaviour that had marred his career at his previous clubs.
In2002, Brisbane won theirsecond successive premiership with Pike playing a wide variety of roles. He again played a key role in many of the games won in2003, including kicking three goals in the final quarter of the preliminary final against theSydney Swans to get the team into itsthird successive winning grand final.[3]
The Lions reached theirfourth successive grand final in2004 but lost toPort Adelaide Football Club in the grand final. Pike was disappointed with his performance in that match, and was reportedly involved in an altercation with a club official in the early hours of the morning on return toBrisbane, the only display of the behaviour which caused him problems before signing with the Lions. Despite resulting speculation that his contract would not be renewed he accepted a one-year contract for2005. However, Pike's season was heavily disrupted by injury and he was unable to add more than a handful of games to his career tally before announcing his retirement on 2 August 2005 with four matches remaining in the regular season.[4]
G | Goals | K | Kicks | D | Disposals | T | Tackles |
B | Behinds | H | Handballs | M | Marks |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | ||||
| 1993 | Melbourne | 22 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 40 | 98 | 17 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 7.3 | 5.0 | 12.3 | 2.1 | 0.6 |
| 1994 | Melbourne | 10 | 16 | 25 | 16 | 102 | 39 | 141 | 49 | 14 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 6.4 | 2.4 | 8.8 | 3.1 | 0.9 |
| 1995 | Fitzroy | 8 | 14 | 10 | 16 | 130 | 85 | 215 | 53 | 17 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 9.3 | 6.1 | 15.4 | 3.8 | 1.2 |
| 1996 | Fitzroy | 8 | 22 | 5 | 9 | 359 | 125 | 484 | 99 | 40 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 16.3 | 5.7 | 22.0 | 4.5 | 1.8 |
| 1997 | North Melbourne | 13 | 24 | 6 | 3 | 236 | 104 | 340 | 65 | 38 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 9.8 | 4.3 | 14.2 | 2.7 | 1.6 |
| 1998 | North Melbourne | 13 | 19 | 7 | 7 | 172 | 85 | 257 | 44 | 35 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 9.1 | 4.5 | 13.5 | 2.3 | 1.8 |
| 1999 | North Melbourne | 13 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 150 | 74 | 224 | 46 | 30 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 8.3 | 4.1 | 12.4 | 2.6 | 1.7 |
| 2000 | North Melbourne | 13 | 20 | 6 | 2 | 181 | 70 | 251 | 61 | 42 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 9.1 | 3.5 | 12.6 | 3.1 | 2.1 |
| 2001 | Brisbane Lions | 13 | 22 | 6 | 8 | 185 | 100 | 285 | 75 | 32 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 8.4 | 4.5 | 13.0 | 3.4 | 1.5 |
| 2002 | Brisbane Lions | 13 | 25 | 14 | 13 | 289 | 135 | 424 | 125 | 68 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 11.6 | 5.4 | 17.0 | 5.0 | 2.7 |
| 2003 | Brisbane Lions | 13 | 25 | 17 | 11 | 234 | 117 | 351 | 118 | 57 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 9.4 | 4.7 | 14.0 | 4.7 | 2.3 |
| 2004 | Brisbane Lions | 13 | 25 | 27 | 18 | 222 | 114 | 336 | 100 | 40 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 8.9 | 4.6 | 13.4 | 4.0 | 1.6 |
| 2005 | Brisbane Lions | 13 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 61 | 33 | 94 | 25 | 18 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 6.8 | 3.7 | 10.4 | 2.8 | 2.0 |
| Career | 247 | 126 | 110 | 2379 | 1121 | 3500 | 877 | 436 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 9.6 | 4.5 | 14.2 | 3.6 | 1.8 | ||
In February 2006, theHastings Football Club in the rural Victorian Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football Leagueannounced that Pike had accepted an offer to coach the club for the upcoming season. He made an appearance in the 2006AFL Legends Match. He continued as senior coach of the Hastings Football Club in 2007. He was the coach of VFL reserve side,Northern Bullants for the 2009 season. In 2010 Pike was appointed to the position of Senior Coach of the Power House Football Club in theVictorian Amateur Football Association.[6]